Transform your people before you transform your branches

“Trying to transform your branches without transforming your people first is like giving someone without a license a new car,” says Aaron Young, senior vice president of retail banking at Credit Union of Southern California (CU SoCal). “If you’re going to spend a pretty penny on new technology, it’ll be wasted if there isn’t a qualified driver to take advantage of it.”

Young has a favorite saying: “Every business problem is a people problem.” Following this logic, he has made talent optimization a core piece of his branch transformation strategy. Why? “When your team is more engaged, folks will give more discretionary effort,” he says. “And when they go the extra mile to make members happy, your whole business wins.” And the research to back up Young’s approach is clear: the relationships people build remain one of the most powerful customer retention tools financial institutions (FIs) have at their disposal.

According to Accenture’s 2023 Global Banking Consumer Study, people still rely on in-person interactions at branches more than any other channel to open accounts, get advice and acquire new products, with 63% saying they “turn to branches to solve specific and complicated problems.”

And when customers speak with a trusted service representative and feel like they’re getting good advice, they buy more products.

Train representatives as ‘personal shoppers’ for financial wellness

While it’s clear that relationship-building is essential for branches of the future, today’s representatives aren’t necessarily hired with that skill set. So, financial institutions must upskill their staff to deliver that level of service.

Some experts suggest that public-facing bank representatives transition from a “farmer mentality” to a “hunter mentality.” In other words, they need a more proactive approach to finding the right products for different customers.

At CU SoCal, Young is adamant he’ll never train staff to simply sell “the product of the day” (i.e., whatever product the FI has decided it wants to sell). Instead, CU SoCal’s representatives are trained to get to know their customers intimately and make recommendations based on knowledge they uncover about the member’s lifestyle and goals. “Our culture and training at CU SoCal are based on coaching staff to recognize which products are appropriate for which stage of our customers’ financial journeys,” Young says. To achieve this, CU SoCal staff are trained to ask questions using the FORD model, a framework that considers a member’s family, occupation, recreation and dreams.

CU SoCal considers their reps more like personal shoppers than salespeople—they’re helping customers find what fits well for any occasion. “For example,” Young says, “my eldest daughter recently went off to college, and my son is going soon. Those are two big life events that require a certain type of financial advice.” CU SoCal is in the process of revamping their onboarding strategy around the FORD model to help their advisors become not salespeople, but needs-based consultants that help people improve their financial health.

Drive depositor loyalty with dedicated advisors

Because of this mentality, CU SoCal has grown, for example, a loyalty program available to anyone with a deposit balance of $200,000 or more, from 1,000 to 3,000 members. The program offers one-to-one personalized service through a dedicated advisor and will soon include specialized rates on mortgages and access to other premium products for free.

By pairing these customers or members with their own dedicated advisors, CU SoCal is giving high value members what they value most: face time with advisors qualified to guide them through some of life’s most important decisions.

“At a time when large deposits are important for a lot of financial institutions,” Young says, “this strategy has really helped us retain high depositors and attract more members as we grow the program.”

The results speak for themselves: CU SoCal has grown deposits from $300 million to $1 billion through this program alone.

Advice centers aren’t new, but omnichannel bankers are

“The idea of the branch as an advice center has actually been around for a long time,” says Young. “What’s new, however, is the versatility of channels that advice is delivered through. It’s becoming more necessary for staff to have the skill set to serve members, whether it’s via video, phone or chat.” A full 36% of customers still prefer video calls over in-person appointments.

But with more channels comes more complexity, and now financial institutions are trying to improve customer experience by reducing the number of touchpoints required to complete a transaction or purchase a new product. Young says this isn’t done with technology alone, but through employee upskilling programs as well. One way Aaron is moving toward this goal is with a universal banking model, where staff are trained to be knowledgeable in everything from transactional requests to loans, wealth management and financial advice.

Young says CU SoCal is creating “omnichannel bankers” who can handle services across all channels. “Omnichannel bankers shouldn’t only live in the branch,” he says—they should be available anywhere so members can access them via their preferred channel. While technology can assist with this kind of efficiency, what will actually improve customer experience is the holistic knowledge of staff across services and channels.

At the end of the day, as Young puts it, “technology is important, but your people are the linchpin for achieving anything you want to achieve.

Katherine Regnier is CEO of Coconut Software.